Invasive species are one of the greatest threats to biodiversity, reshuffling entire food webs and ecosystems. But some invasive species, whether they migrated because of climate change or accidentally introduced, can end up taking on roles that benefit an ecosystem. If eradicated on a large scale, it can affect food webs and ecological processes essential for people and native species. Invasive species can even take on the role of extinct species—at least to a point. For example, in Hawai’i, non-native birds on Oʻahu disperse small-seeded native plants like their extinct predecessors but can ..read more

The new American diet is becoming increasingly reliant on imported food to display a rainbow of produce at the grocery store and accommodate modern culinary trends. Within the last few decades, fruits such as lychee and papaya have become commonplace in the standard grocery store, even though they are largely grown over 3,000 miles away from the United States. Foodnetwork.com alone features nearly 500 different recipes that include papaya in their ingredient list. The monocropping of this produce (growth of a single plant species over a large geographical space) contributes significantly to th ..read more

When it comes to protecting freshwater resources from man-made disasters, surface water gets almost all the attention, but groundwater or underground aquifers play a major role in the fresh water supply. Chronic groundwater contamination can break the balance between supply and demand, leading to socioeconomic crises and even wars. It’s true that surface water provides drinking water to half the U.S. population and is more vulnerable to pollution from pipelines, agriculture and urban runoff. But the other half rely on groundwater, which are just vulnerable to man-made disasters but are often a ..read more

This interview was conducted by Marta Piazza, contributing writer for Sense & Sustainability. slavefreetrade is a Swiss non-profit association originally founded in Geneva in 2016. With a 100% volunteer team, slavefreetrade built the world’s first human rights compliance platform – at the intersection of freedom, business, and human rights.   How have the first steps of slavefreetrade been? Where has the whole idea come from? I worked as an Australian Federal Agent and then moved into global counter-slavery operations. I have done that for the last 17 years. The idea for slavefreetrad ..read more

Closets around the globe are filled with the latest styles and trends thanks to retailers like Uniqlo, H&M, and Zara. Landfills too are bursting with the same apparel, some just weeks or months old. This is the result of the “fast fashion” industry, which environmentalists and regulators seek to curb, but with little agreement on how. While they debate whether the solution should be through government intervention or independent market initiatives, the problem continues to grow. Simply, fast fashion is the rapid design, creation, and sale of low-cost clothing. Brands such as Japan-based Un ..read more

As food production needs , more land is converted to agriculture. This stresses ecosystems and limits land available for biodiversity preservation, so much so that land conversion to agriculture is thought to threaten wildlife and biodiversity to a degree that is on par with climate change. Two strategies to balance food production and biodiversity conservation have been debated over the past several decades. Land Sparing divides land into separate areas for high-yield farming and conservation, while Land Sharing farms a greater area of land with low intensity methods that are compatible with ..read more

Although much research has focused on the most sustainable, environmentally-friendly strategies to address various issues, an important piece of the puzzle is often ignored: Now that we know the best course of action, how do we get people to engage in the proposed sustainable behaviors? To answer the question of what influences an individual’s behavior, we can turn to the theory of planned behavior, a popular social-psychological model. According to the theory of planned behavior, a person’s intention predicts if they will actually perform a behavior. Intention is influenced by a person’s atti ..read more

By 2025, 75 percent of the American workforce will consist of Millennials (those born between 1977 and 1995). This demographic is demanding greater corporate sustainability and willing to pay more for sustainable products, services, and experiences. As Millennials drive the trend towards sustainability and responsible consumerism across multiple areas, it is no surprise that they are also making a bigger name for investing responsibly. Key Definitions What does it mean to invest responsibly? Responsible investment is most often defined as investment that promotes environmental, social, and gov ..read more

In just about any article that lists the most beautiful places in the world, islands rank as some of the most beautiful. Think Fiji, Bora Bora, Seychelles, Maldives or the Hawaiian Islands. They’re popular tourist destinations and some of the most biologically diverse places on the planet. Island biodiversity lends to their beauty and popularity, yet they’re hotspots of the global biodiversity crisis. A recent study on the island biodiversity crisis, published in Global Ecology and Conservation, found that although islands make up only 6.7 percent of the Earth’s landmass, they are home to abou ..read more

“Circular Economy” is a relatively new buzz-term in the field of sustainability. What is it? It’s pretty simple: nothing is wasted. In a circular economy, everything produced through economic activity must be transferred and used somewhere else, continuously. Three principles guide this approach: firstly, design out waste and pollution; secondly, keep products and materials in use; and thirdly, regenerate natural systems. Another way to think about a circular economy is one in which ownership is relinquished and goods are rented and leased as they cycle through the system. Within a circular ec ..read more